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Church & State

Calif. School Board Pushes Religious Right Message

December2007AU Bulletin

A California public school board has voted to display posters proclaiming “In God We Trust.”

In early November, the Kern High School District’s school board voted 4-1 to place the posters in more than 2,300 classrooms, libraries, offices and the board’s meeting room. The poster, according to the Los Angeles Times, highlights “In God We Trust,” but also includes words from the U.S. Constitution and the Declaration of Independence among other documents.

School board member Chad Vegas, an evangelical pastor, has sought to push a Religious Right message in the school district.

After the vote, Vegas told the Times, “We’re not going to accept the agenda of some radical leftists who want to expunge God from public dialogue. Instead, we’re teaching our citizens – including our children – that the very foundation of government is that God gave them unalienable rights that cannot be usurped by the will of the majority or anyone else.”

Initially the school board considered adorning its schools with American Family Association “In God We Trust” posters but was encouraged by board member Brian Batey to create its own version.

The only member to vote against the measure was board president Bob Hampton who made the argument that “the spiritual side of a student belongs in the home and in the church – not in the school.”